Deep, Natural Affinity
by silverwriter01
Summary: After leaving Gilberti's Garage, Jane and Maura have a discussion about their deep, natural affinity for each other.


Deep, Natural Affinity

By: silverwriter01

All characters belong to Tess Gerritsen and TNT. I'm just borrowing them.

Note: Takes place directly after Episode Three of Season Two.

Edited by the great Rosa.

Synopsis: After leaving Gilberti's Garage, Jane and Maura have a discussion about their deep, natural affinity for each other.

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><p>Maura frantically grabbed hold of the door with one hand and the dashboard with the other as Jane accelerated far too quickly for her liking out of Gilberti's &amp; Sons Auto Shop. A blaring horn caught her attention and she turned her head around to see a car that had to rapidly break to avoid hitting them. She turned to look at her friend.<p>

"If he had been driving the speed limit, he wouldn't have had to slam on his breaks," Jane replied without needing Maura to speak.

The medical examiner decided to fasten her seatbelt before doing anything else. After she heard the click, she asked, "Do you know how many traffic violations you just committed?"

"I'm a cop, Maura. Of course I do."

Maura's eyes slightly narrowed as she examined her friend. Furrowed brow, raised nostrils, compressed mouth, and rigid arms. Yes, it was logically safe to say that Jane Rizzoli was angry.

Jane was actually border-lining on furious. She knew she shouldn't be. It wasn't any of her business if Maura wanted to go all mushy about Giovanni's 'soul-mates' line.

A flash of gold caught the corner of her eye and she turned to glare at the peppers handing from the rearview mirror. She snatched them off and contemplated as to what to do with them. It would be unethical to throw them out the window so she settled for throwing them over her shoulder into the backseat.

Nose wrinkle. Raised upper lip. Partial closure of the eyes. Maura was certain Jane was now feeling contempt, "Jane, is something the…?"

"It's the principle of the whole thing," Jane blurted out.

"Excuse me?"

The detective had been mentally ranting at Maura inside of her head and hadn't meant to share her thoughts.

"It's nothing," Jane muttered as she got into the turning lane. She hit the turn signal and listened to the familiar clicking of the Buick she had learned to drive in.

Maura shook her head, "It certainly is something. Tell me what the matter is, Jane."

The detective gave a half sigh, half groan, "Fine. I'll tell you. It's insulting what you did back there."

Maura lifted a hand to her heart, "Me? What did I do?"

"You did a complete three-sixty. One minute you're all LLBFFs with me and melting over Giovanni's soul-mates crap the next. It's insulting," Jane firmly stated as she turned down the road that lead to Maura's house.

"Jane, I still don't understand why you're upset. It's not as if we're…you know…actually dating," Maura said.

"It's the principle of the whole thing," Jane echoed her earlier statement, "You wanted me to play along so he would leave you alone. We convinced him we were dating, and you just gushed all over him again as we were leaving. What you did makes everything we did to make him go away pointless and…"

Jane paused to look over her shoulder before she eased into the next lane, "And it was a personal insult to me. We were faking a relationship and then you started flirting with him again. What you did made it seem like I'm not enough for you. Do you know how that makes me feel when you flirt with other men?"

Maura felt confused, "I don't know how it makes you feel. I mean…we're not in a relationship."

"I know that Maura," Jane snapped, "It's the…"

"Principle of the whole thing," Maura finished, "I understand that part."

The pair sat quietly as the detective finished the trip to Maura's house and parked her mother's car in the garage next to Maura's Toyota.

The medical examiner unbuckled and turned in the seat to face Jane. She said, "I'm sorry I've upset you. I don't fully understand what I did wrong, but I realize it's probably some social norm that I do not know about."

Jane shook her head, "No need to apologize, Maura. I'm just getting riled up over nothing. Really, it's fine."

She smiled at her friend and reached over to pat her leg, "Now let's get to work taking off these spinners."

"But why, Jane?" Maura exclaimed as she opened her car door to follow the detective.

Jane gave her an incredulous look, "I'm not going to let my mother drive around in this car. They'll be stolen right off her car with the tires. And you don't want her driving around this neighborhood with them on."

"Why wouldn't I want that?" Maura asked, "This car is fierce."

Jane shook her head as she went to find tools to take off the spinners. Maura lived in a rich neighborhood and the last thing she wanted was her mother driving by in a pimped-out car everyday. The racing strip was bad enough on its own.

"I should go change into some work clothes," Maura said, looking down at her outfit, "Be right back."

Jane watched her friend walk inside the house before going to check the trunk. She was pleased to see the old hubcaps were inside and took them out. The detective eyed the large, red Craftsman tool cabinet Maura had before looking down at her new Thursday shirt. She didn't want to get it dirty because she knew Maura would immediately try and clean it.

The brunette went inside the house and called out, "Maura, do I still have one of my yoga shirts here or something?"

"Of course Jane. I have a whole drawer filled with items you've left over," Maura replied, coming out of her bedroom.

Jane was surprised, "Really? A whole drawer?"

The medical examiner made a confirming sound before going to check on Bass, "Left dresser, middle drawer."

The detective went into Maura's bedroom and looked inside the drawer. Sure enough there were a few of her workout shirts, tank tops, shorts, socks, and a pair of her underwear.

"I've been looking for those," Jane muttered to herself, "I owe Joe Friday an apology. But how in the hell did I leave them here?"

Jane shook her head as she grabbed one of her yoga shirts and changed into it. She walked into the living room and laid the white shirt on the couch.

Maura was now talking on the phone and the detective gathered it was the doctor's mother on the other end.

Seeing that she would have a short wait on her hands, Jane decided to go to look up something Maura had said earlier. While she had a vague idea what the definition was, she wanted to double check.

She had an exaggerated face as she pulled out Maura's heavy dictionary and started flipping through it until she found the word she was looking for.

_Affinity (noun) – 1. A natural liking for or identification with somebody or something. 2. A similarity or connection between people or things._

"Sorry about that. What are you searching for?" Maura asked, coming to stand beside Jane.

Jane quickly shut the heavy book, "Nothing. Let's go change the hubcaps."

It didn't take long for the two women to replace the spinner hubcaps and remove all the little decorations Giovanni put inside.

Curious to see if the spinners would look good on her car, Maura placed one of the spinners by her tire and stood back to examine it. Seeing her chance to talk with Maura's attention being elsewhere, Jane asked, "Would you say what we have is deep?"

The medical examiner slightly tilted her head, "Deep?"

"Yeah," Jane said, wiping her hands on a rag, "You know, deep and natural."

Maura stood quietly in serious thought, "I've never thought about it before, but I would say yes. We have a deep and natural friendship."

"And would you say we have an affinity for each other?"

The medical examiner decided the spinner did not look good on her car and removed it. She took all the spinners and placed them on the workbench at the front of the garage. She would carefully store them away later, "Yes, we have an affinity for each other."

"So you think we're soul-mates then," Jane concluded.

Maura momentarily froze and then spun around to look at the detective, "What? I never said that."

"Yeah, you just did. You said soul-mates are people with deep, natural affinity for each other. We have deep, natural affinity for each other. Therefore, we're soul-mates.

"That's a false syllogism," Maura declared as her mind rapidly tried to process the idea of being soul-mates with Jane.

"It is not a false syllo-what-ism."

"Yes, it is. Rabbits, whiskers, mammals, etc," Maura said, motioning with her hands. She kept protesting while her mind tried to find a way to disproof Jane's statement.

Amused at how flustered her friend was becoming, Jane continued, "So what do you call people who have a deep, natural affinity for each other and who are not soul-mates?"

Maura opened her mouth to speak and closed it after she hesitated. After another moment she said, "LLBFFs?"

Jane felt a corner of her mouth start to tug into a smile, "Did you just guess?"

"What? No," Maura exclaimed.

"There was a question in your voice," Jane remarked.

Maura protested, "There was no question."

The detective chuckled, "Sure. Well, come on. You can buy me dinner for not listening to me about Giovanni in the first place."

Jane went inside the house and grabbed her white shirt to put back on. She paused when she noticed Maura hadn't walked back in with her. Laying her shit back down, she went to see what was keeping the doctor.

She found Maura still rooted in the same spot, "Maura? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"And you're still bad at lying," Jane retorted, moving to stand beside her friend. Now close, she could see the shimmer of unfallen tears in Maura's hazel eyes.

"Hey, hey. Why are you crying? And don't explain about lachrymal stuff either."

"It's just," Maura paused, overcome with emotion, "I don't know what we are, Jane. I don't have the words. You're my friend, my best friend, and that doesn't seem like a good enough title for what you truly mean to me. We do have a deep, natural affinity for each other but I don't know what to call it. All I know is that I can't imagine life without you in it and it's my greatest fear to live life without you. I don't know what to call that, but it's how I feel."

Jane wrapped her arms around Maura, who clasped her tightly back. Jane whispered, "It's how I feel too."

The detective held onto her friend for a long time before she figured out what to say. She pulled back and looked at her friend, "Me and you, we don't need a title or label. We're just us and however this relationship goes, we'll handle it. Whether we stay like this or become something…more, we'll handle it. But right now, you owe me dinner."

"Babe," The detective added with a smirk.

Maura laughed despite herself, "Alright…babe."

End


End file.
